FDBusiness.com

Arla Foods has announced that its CFO Natalie Knight has accepted the role of Executive Vice President, Finance, of Dutch-Belgian retail group Ahold Delhaize, and will leave the company on 29 February 2020. Natalie Knight joined Arla Foods in January 2016.

During her tenure as CFO Arla has strengthened its balance sheet, delivering strong cash flow and net working capital, which has enabled Arla Foods to fund significant investments in developing global market positions for its brands and Arla Foods Ingredients business as well as expand revenue in growth categories. Natalie Knight has together with her EMT colleagues played a key role in the development and execution of Arla Fooods’ Calcium programme, which is creating significant savings to fund the competitiveness of the company’s milk price and reinvest in its growth.

Commenting on the news, Arla Foods CEO, Peder Tuborgh, says: “I would like to recognise and thank Natalie for the contribution that she has made to the progress of Arla Foods over the last four years and for the support she has given to me and the rest of my Executive Management Team, during her time with us. Whilst it is always sad to see talented people move on, I congratulate her on her new role and wish her well in her future career.”

Peder Tuborgh has confirmed that he is conducting a search process to find Natalie Knight’s successor and that the timing of her move, means that she will be in place to see the completion and reporting of Arla’s 2019 annual accounts.

Natalie Knight says: “It has been a privilege to be CFO of such a progressive and strong co-operative as Arla Foods and I am proud of the achievements that we have made over the last four years, particularly in our ability to continue to drive strong global branded growth, whilst simultaneously implementing our Calcium transformation programme. This is a testimony to the capability of Arla people, not least my own teams in Finance, Legal and IT. I wish Arla Foods and its owners every success for the future.”